Habituation

Habituation is defined as "the gradual decline of a response to a stimulus resulting from repeated exposure to the stimulus." The term is commonly applied to the often long and laborious process of gradually "training" wild animals, particularly primates, to tolerate the presence of human visitors in order to allow long-term observations.

Habituation is connected to sasquatch research in that some people have claimed that certain sasquatches have become habituated to the presence of humans, thereby allowing long-term repeated observations and/or a "relationship" to occur. These observations are often claimed to occur at the will of the witness (i.e., using tools to call the bigfoot in) or in a predictable manner. Some witnesses have also claimed "friendships" with the habituated bigfoot, so much so that the relationship has spanned generations of the same family. One such case is claimed by Janice Coy on her farm in Tennessee. As documented in "Fifty Years With Bigfoot" by Mary Green, Janice has stated that a family of bigfoot, lead by an individual named "Fox", have been in constant contact with her and her family for more than 50 years. These claims have been met with skepticism as no evidence has ever been provided.

To date, most habituation claims have not been backed up with any evidence to prove such claims have occurred, no photos, no audio, no casts, only the word of the person supposedly doing it. When pressed about the lack of evidence, most times the response is "I don't have to prove anything to anyone, I know what is there." So most claims of habituation are unsubstantiated and unlikely. See the Patty Mac investigation page for an in-depth look at such a claim that was investigated by researchers.